The Prague astronomical clock, or Prague orloj ( ), is a medieval astronomical clock located in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. The clock was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest one still working.
Description
The Orloj is mounted on the southern wall of Old Town City Hall in the Old Town Square. The clock mechanism itself is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; "The Walk of the Apostles", a clo...

The Antikythera mechanism ( or ) is an ancient analog computer designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was recovered in 1900–1901 from the Antikythera wreck, but its significance and complexity were not understood until a century later.
Jacques Cousteau visited the wreck in 1978 but, although he found new dating evidence, he did not find any additional remains of the Antikythera mechanism. The construction has been dated to the early 1st century BC. Technological artifacts approaching its complexity and workmanship did not appear again until the 14th century AD, when mechanica...

Radium dials are watch, clock and other instrument dials painted with radioluminescent paint containing radium. The 1900s (decade) were the peak of radium dial production, as radiation poisoning was then unknown; subsequently, radium dials have largely been replaced by phosphorescent- or occasionally tritium-based light sources.
Brands
*Undark produced by the United States Radium Corporation
*Luna produced by the Radium Dial Company
*Marvelite produced by the Cold Light Manufacturing Company (a subsidiary of the Radium Company of Colorado)
History
Radium dials were almost always painted...

@BESW Sure. 95% of the mines have long since rusted to inactivity, and there probably weren't that many there to begin with. But it's quicker and cheaper for the government to just put signs saying "Minefield, do not enter", rather than dig around for all the mines, most of which aren't even documented.

Reptiles are largely instinct driven creatures. Dragons to are somewhat like reptiles (see Wikipedia quote), and while they seem intelligent (in a free choice kind of way), it is possible that their instincts are just much more complicated thus giving the appearance of that, when the biological p...

One skill some writers struggle with (myself included) is being able to tell whether what you've written effectively communicates what you're thinking, or if you're just so familiar with your intent that you read between the lines without knowing it.

@Julix I... strongly advise against being caustic here. We try to be good-natured and appreciate the same. There's good reason to be cautious about speculation. An answer based on canon (and not venturing too far from it) can be quite reasonably agreed upon by players around a table, whilst speculation that wanders far from canon or has little to do with it is in a danger zone: it could end up contradicted by the canon itself, and since it's entirely speculation, the players have no neutral reason to accept it as anything beyond stuff any of them could equally make up and contend. — Jonathan Hobbs1 min ago

I looked up "caustic" and "found sarcastic in a scathing and bitter way" -- I really didn't mean to be! I honestly appreciated the feedback that my post was too speculative, so I went ahead and backed it up as good as I could. — Julix29 secs ago

That's not even the fundamental issue, the way I see it. It's the question of whether your actions dictate your alignment or your alignment dictates your actions. Which often boils down to the No True Scotsman fallacy.

And digging even deeper is that Alignment in 3.5 isn't a well-thought out mechanic, but a historical remnant. Alignment mechanics aren't a bad thing when they serve an explicit purpose in a game. D&D doesn't really know what it wants to do with it.

The Most Esteemed Order of the Defender of the Realm (Darjah Yang Mulia Pangkuan Negara) is a Malaysian federal award presented for meritous service to the country. The Order Motto are 'Dipeliharakan Allah-Pangkuan Negara' (Lit:Protected by God-Defender of the Realm,By the Grace of God-Defender of the Realm).
The order was instituted on 6 August 1958 and initially had the five highest ranks. The medal was added on 19 August 1960.
Order ranks
{|align=center class=wikitable width=50%
! colspan=3 | Ribbon pattern of the ranks
|-
|width=33% valign=top align=center|S.M.N.
|width=33% vali...

Vin Diesel is a very enthusiastic D&D player! He's publicly gone on nerd rants about his characters. Only he doesn't get mocked for it, because he's Vin Diesel and could probably turn you into a smoothie.

This is a guy who not only knows that video games based on films usually suck, and didn't want that to happen to the game based on Pitch Black... he actually put his money into making sure it was a decent game.

One of the problems with the second Riddick film is that it's basically a murderhobo PC plot.

(The other main problem is that the second film just doesn't mesh very well with the rest of the franchise. Riddick is an anti-hero grey-morality survivalist and suddenly in Chronicles the story goes ARGHBLARGLE WARHAMMER 40K!)

Just came back from Riddick and I loved it. Less than Chronicles of Riddick, I am afraid, but enjoyable still.
I would like a 20-level build for Riddick based on these criteria:
Concept: Hardy survivalist who strikes from the shadows
Night-optimized, okay to be at the expense of daytime abili...

The last Furyan is a good start for a high concept for post-Pitch Black-Riddick.

From Ursula Vernon's Riddick Rules:

> 14a. There are no herbivores in the Riddick-verse. Herbivores are not sufficiently manly. This works because apparently there are no plants in the Riddick-verse either. Plants are definitely not manly.

> 14b. It occurs to me, given that there are no plants, that everybody’s got to be seriously constipated, which explains a few things about the Necromongers.

> 10. Under no circumstances should you allow Riddick to become in any way fond of you. This guarantees that you will sacrifice yourself nobly AND get a protracted bleeding-out scene.

> 10a. Fortunately, Riddick only becomes attached to other creatures off-camera. If you suspect that you are between movies or trapped in a lengthy time-passing montage, RUN.

There are many things I like about Riddick and the Riddick franchise. One of them is that Riddick has a truly abysmal sense of humor, and knows it, but also knows that he's scary enough no one will call him out on it.

> While not necessarily superhuman, Furyans themselves are impressive physical specimens; they are stronger, faster, tougher, more resistant to pain, more agile, possess acute senses, immense stamina, and recover quicker and with more finality than most of the other human races.

Riddick is an Alpha Furyan.

> Alpha Furyans' prowess, including near superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes, senses, healing, reactive adaptation, and durability far superior to normal Furyans, even at infancy. They have the ability to survive without oxygen for prolonged time, as Riddick was able to be strangled with his own umbilical cord without terminal harm.

His Alpha Furyan nature also seems connected to his ability to relate to and control animals.

(For the record, all this Furyan stuff makes Riddick less interesting to me, because his abilities say less about him as a character than they did when we thought they were Riddick's own traits, not traits of his people.)

I remember the blurb from one Man-Kzin War novel - "The Kzin, a feline race of warriors, thought the peaceful and united Earth would be easy pickings. Then they discovered that the reason humankind no longer practiced warfare is because they were already very, very good at it".

They're so disgusted and confused that they decide to just pretend the whole thing never happened because it's icky and they can't explain it.

Asimov has also played with it.

He's got a short story about an alien who thinks sexual reproduction is dangerous enough that we should be wiped out, because such efficient genetic adaptability will threaten to overtake all other sapient life.

Hmm, that review doesn't actually say anything, but it's a good story about how humans were feared and reviled galactic dictators who were blasted into the stone age and confined to Earth millennia ago as retribution.